News reports portray bin Laden’s death as a significant achievement of the Obama presidency and simultaneously point out the death is primarily symbolic because bin Laden was no longer involved with al Qaeda operations. Pundits herald this as a great victory in the war on terror and simultaneously warn of a probable surge in revenge terrorist attacks on US targets.

In their wide-ranging précis of the leaked cables, Times reporters Scott Shane and Andrew Lehren mention in passing a key detail from one of the diplomatic dispatches: “Saudi donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda.”